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INAUGURAL ADDRESS 


SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, 


MAYOR OF BOSTON, 


SS omer ne are” 


TO THE 


AOS aa ORR ide ay PO Oa 


OLEY COUNCIL, 


JANUARY 2, 1882. 


AO, OE 4 





BOSTON: 


ROCKW ELL AND CHURCHILL, CITY PRINTERS, 
No. 39 AROH STREET. 
ExLS OZ: 








— @e- 














THE 


JUL 3 ie 


OF 


SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, 


MAYOR OF BOSTON, 


TO RHE 


CITY COUNCIL, 


JANUARY 2, 1882. 





















































BOSTON: 


ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL, CITY PRINTERS, 
No. 39 ARCH STREET. 


1882. 








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CITY OF BOSTON. 





In Common Councin, January 2, 1882. 
Ordered, That His Honor the Mayor be requested to 
furnish a copy of his Address, that the same may be 
printed. 
Passed. Sent up for concurrence. 
We bee rh GG 
Clerk of the Common Council. 


In Boarp oF ALDERMEN, January 10, 1882. 
Passed in concurrence. 
S. F. McCLEARY, 
City Clerk. 





> 


ADDRESS. 


¢ 


Gentlemen of the City Council: — 


A new Municipal Government is about to enter 
on its duties, and, in accordance with the long 
usage on such occasions, the Mayor delivers an 
inaugural address. Of late years it has been his 
custom to lay before the convention of the Board 
of Aldermen and the Common Council such sug- 
gestions and recommendations as he may see fit 
to make, besides giving the more important items 
from the reports of the several heads of depart- 
ments. 

With no intention to criticise the custom, it 
has seemed more in harmony with my own feel- 
ings to confine this address to the brief statement 
of a few topics. I do this the more readily, as 
my predecessor in office has so lately given an 
able review of the prominent features of a long 
administration; and in it he covers part of the 
ground which will soon claim our attention. Be- 
sides this, in an address before the last Board of 
Aldermen, at the end of the year, the Chairman 


has clearly set forth some matters having a close 


6 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


connection with the business that will be brought 
before us. Both of these addresses are founded 
on long experience in municipal affairs, and con- 
tain much that is worthy of your attention. They 
will soon be printed and within the reach of every 
member of the City Government. Furthermore, - 
the annual reports of the various chiefs of depart- 
ments will appear at an early day, and be freely 
distributed. 

These reports are drawn up with much 
care and fulness, and give, with all the accu- 
racy of official authority, the details of the 
internal affairs of the city. Any suggestions and 
recommendations that I might make would neces- 
sarily be based largely on the statement of others, 
and I am reluctant to publish opinions taken at 
second hand, as my own deliberate convictions. 
Henceforth it will be my duty to become informed 
on these very points, and, in the language of the 
charter, “to communicate to both branches of the 
City Council all such information, and recommend 
all such measures as may tend to the improvement 
of the finances, the police, health, security, cleanli- 
ness, comfort, and ornament of the said city.” 

The condition of the city finances is of so 
much general interest that I enter at once upon 


its consideration. It is a subject of prime impor- 














MAYOR’S ADDRESS. yj 


tance to the citizens of all classes. It fixes the 
rate of taxation and, in every household, affects 
the cost of living. The report of the Auditor 
of Accounts does not appear for several months 
to come, and for this reason I give, in some 
detail, a statement of the financial affairs of the 
city as they stood on December 31, 1881; though 
it does not include the large amounts recently 
appropriated by the votes of the City Council 


for public parks. 








CITY DEBT. 

Gross debt, December 31, 1880 : : . $41,103,750 60 
Add permanent debt issued in 1881. ; : 39,000 00 
Temporary debt of 1882. ; 84,000 00 

$41,226,750 60 
Deduct debt paid during 1881 _ . ; : ‘ 1,208,152 58 
Gross debt, December 31, 1881 . ; : . $40,018,598 02 
Sinking Funds, Dec. 31,188) . $18,938,402 07 
Receipts during 1881 : a. 2,020,021 07 





$16,265,323 14 
Payments during 1881 : mee A0I vot 


$15,056,065 73 
Bonds and mortgages, the pay- 








ments on which are pledged to 











the payment of debt : : 714,485 69 
Total redemption means, December 31, 1881 = 15;41(0,901442 
Net debt, December 31, 1881. ‘ . $24,248,046 60 
aE 





8 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 








Gross debt, December 31, 1880. ; : . $41,103,750 60 
Crime att ‘ 81,°1881 . : : - 40,018,598 02 
Decrease . : : d : : .. $1,0809Is2rae 


Net debt, December 31,1880 . : ; . $26,658,456 41 
le . SL, ont ; ; . 24,248,046 60 
Decrease . . : k : ; . $2,410,409 81 


City debt, including balances of debt assumed by 


acts of annexation : ‘ : ‘ - $27,260,324 04 
Cochituate Water debt : : ; : . 11,633 0275 ee 
Mystic Water debt. ; : ; : : 1,127,000 00 


$40,018,598 02 


ED 





Loans authorized but not issued — 
By City Council of 1877. 


For improved sewerage : : : : . $981,000 00 
By City Council of 1881. 

For additional supply of water . $324,000 00 
Widening Portland street : 300,000 00 
mi South street . c 185,000 00 
ae Kneeland street . 180,000 00 
West Roxbury Park : - 600,000 00 
City Point ae - 100,000 00 
East Boston a ‘ : 50,000 00 
Charles riverembankment . 300,000 0U 
Muddy river improvement. 200,000 00 
Arnold Arboretum . ; 60,000 00 


Additional land, Public Library, 150,000 00 





2,449,000 00 








$3,430,000 00 














MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 9 


By the action of the City Council at the end 


of last year, Boston is committed to a system 


of public parks. During several years the sub- 


ject has been thoroughly discussed, both in public 
and in private, and the only argument urged 
against it was the cost. Nearly every large city 
in this country or in Europe has its park, or 
series of parks, and Boston will soon stand abreast 
of them. ‘There are many sanitary reasons in 
favor of the system, and whatever favors sound 
health leads to good morals. ‘Tending in the same 
direction are other arguments which I will not 
specify. If we have the needful means, it is 
enough for us to know that such improvements 
are demanded by the public. At the same time 
the tax-payers have a right to hold their servants 
to a strict account of the manner in which the 
appropriations for the object are spent. I am 
fully aware that this action of the last City 
Council does not closely concern us now, but a 
caution in regard to the expenditure of money 
is always timely. Fortunately nature has done so 
much for this wide-spread territory that there is 
little need of a great outlay at once, and the 
more expensive improvements can be put off with- 
out detriment to the public interests. By the 


terms of the vote authorizing the establishment 


10 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


of the parks, the land will be placed under the 
charge of the Park Commissioners; and the city 
may well congratulate itself that it has three 
citizens who enjoy the entire: confidence of the 
community, and, at the same time, are willing, 
without salary, to assume the care and _ responsi- 
bility of this high trust. I have referred to the 
matter because other appropriations will be required 
for this object, and during a period when large 
sums of money are voted for public “purposes 
there is a tendency to grow careless of ‘the 
economical use of it. The average mind becomes 
accustomed to unusual amounts, and money is 
often spent without due foresight. } 
It may be well to remind you that, in the course 
of a few years, a large part of the Frankln Fund 
will be available by the city for a purpose kindred 
to public parks. Dr. Benjamin Franklin died in 
the year 1790, bequeathing to his native town of 
Boston one thousand pounds, to be lent to young 
married artificers, upon certain conditions; and he 
expected that this sum, in one hundred years, 
would increase to a very large amount. It was 
his wish, as expressed in his will, that, at the end 
of this time, one hundred thousand pounds should 
be spent upon “public works which may be judged 


of most general utility to the inhabitants, such 














MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 11 


as fortifications, bridges, aqueducts, public build- 
ings, baths, pavements, or whatever may make 
living in the town more convenient to its people, 
and render it more agreeable to strangers resort- 
ing thither for health or a temporary residence.” 
Applying this money toward the embellishment 
of Boston, under certain conditions, would certainly 
be in accordance with the expressed desire of 
Franklin, and would leave the way clear to give 
the name of the great printer, philosopher, and 
statesman to one of the new parks. In no other 
way could the bequest be made to subserve so 
well the convenience of the whole people. 

Your attention is earnestly called to the public 
schools. No subject will be brought to your 
notice, of greater interest to. the citizens, or. of 
more vital importance. Education is the very bul- 
wark of our political liberties. ‘There is no power 
so actively at work in welding together the 
tastes, instincts and feelings of the whole people, 
without regard to social distinctions, as our system 
of public instruction; and with the growth of our 
city in population and material prosperity, it 
becomes a matter of increasing importance to 
cherish every institution which shall tend to en- 
large the interests and sympathies common to the 


entire community. Through her whole history 


12 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


Boston has been liberal toward her schools, and 
the tax-payers are always willing that the neces- 
sary appropriations should be made in order to 
support them. 

According to the school census of May last 
the number of children in the city, between five 
and fifteen years of age, was sixty-one thousand 
and fifty-six; and of this number forty-seven 
thousand seven hundred and_ thirty-two were 
taught in the public schools, and six thousand 
nine hundred and twenty-two in private schools. 
In June last the following schools were sup- 
ported by the city:—one Normal, ten Latin and 
High, fifty Grammar and four hundred and eigh- 
teen Primary schools. Besides these there were 
what are termed the special schools, comprising 
an eyening high school, a school for deaf-mutes, 


two schools for licensed minors, six evening 
drawing schools, and seventeen evening schools. 


The average number of pupils attending these 
special classes was three thousand one hun- 
dred and _ fifty-three. These different schools, 
general and special, required a force of twelve 
hundred and seventy-six teachers, of whom one 
hundred and ninety-eight were men, and one 
thousand and seventy-eight were women. 


The appropriations made by the City Council 














* 


MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 13 


for public schools during the present financial 
year amounted to $1,415,760. The expenditure 
of the year, thus far, as compared with that of 
the corresponding nine months of last year, shows 
a decrease of $18,608.34. It is a gratifying fact 
to note that the expenses of the schools of late 
have been steadily decreasing, although the num- 
ber of pupils has increased at the rate of over one 
thousand each year. 

A. fit supplement to the question of schools is 
the Public Library, and I would earnestly bespeak 
your careful attention to its needs. It is to-day 
the largest library in the country, and its use 
increases with its growth. Our system of public 
education culminates wisely in an institution of 
this kind. 

There are various other subjects connected with 
the municipal government, which I omit to men- 
tion; though it is not because I fail to appreciate 
their importance. In the natural course of official 
duties your attention will soon be called to them, 
and they will receive, I doubt not, your careful 


consideration. é 


Gentlemen of the Otty Council: —Our work 
is now begun. Let us show by cur actions, rather 
than by our words, that we appreciate the high 


- without regard to party or faction, and wi 


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14 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


nel 
sole reference to the good of the city. If we 
enter upon our labors in this spirit, we may ‘well 


» 


leave the result to a kind Providence. 





yy 30 he a Suh 


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withdrawn from Crer ar Linyoig? SEE ereann 11 
INAUGURAL ADDRESEE? ee Ay 
APR 9% 1966 


OF 


j iy fe! rth nie 
EIVERS: RAG WA GiebRaad-s 


| ALBERT PALMER 


MAYOR OF BOSTON, 


TO THE 


PLEY COUNCLL, 


JANUARY 1, 1883, 














































































































* 9 
ig 
C) ‘ 
) BOOST O'’ : 
ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL, CITY PRINTERS. 
No. 39 ARCH STREET. 
TS: S Se 
id 
i 





a 


THE 


INAUGURAL ADDRESS 


ALBERT PALMER, 


MAYOR OF BOSTON, 


TO THE 


CUR yOu NGI: 


JANUARY 1, 1888. 






































































































































BOSTON: 
ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL, CITY PRINTERS, 


No. 89 ARCH STREET, 


1883. 


ClTY 60: Pt Ses 


In Common Councin, January 1, 1883. 


Ordered, ‘That His Honor the Mayor be requested to furnish a copy 
of his Address, that the same may be printed. 


Sent up for concurrence. 
W. P. GREGG, 


Clerk of the Common Council. 


In Boarp oF ALDERMEN, January 8, 1883. 


Concurred. 
HUGH O’BRIEN, 


Chairman. 


A true copy. 
Attest : 
JOHN T. PRIEST, 


Asst. City Clerk. 


PANU DID data abitete 


Gentlemen of the City Council: — 


The people of Boston have committed to our 
custody and care for the ensuing year all those 
manifold municipal interests on the wise guardian- 
ship and prudent administration whereof so much 
of their moral and material prosperity depends. 
Remembering that by far the heavier portion of 
the total burden of taxation is levied for the sup- 
port of the City Government, and that its authority 
more nearly touches the daily life of this great 
metropolis —now including within its corporate ju- 
risdiction one-fifth of the total population of the 
Commonwealth — than either the State or the Federal 
government, we cannot but feel that the confidence 
thus reposed in us carries with it responsibilities 
which require at our hands the most diligent, 
eareful, and constant attention. 

There is, happily, no need for me to emphasize 
these responsibilities. Coming directly from the 
people, and chosen at a period when the popular 
mood is unmistakably disposed to hold public 
servants to strict accountability in all their dealings 


4. MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


with the public business, we are not likely to forget 
that the powers delegated to us by our fellow- 
citizens must be used for the benefit of the whole 
city, with an eye single to the conservation of all 
her varied interests, and the growth and improve- 
ment of all her public institutions; to the end that 
we may transfer to our successors, unimpaired, that 
noble fabric of civic government which has made 
Boston, in many respects, the model municipality 
of this continent. In the heat necessarily engen- 
dered by our annual elections we sometimes hear 
a note of alarm raised, lest the government of the 
city should fall into reckless hands, and the polity 
which has made it a pattern for other communities 
suffer from violent and _ ill-considered change. 
With each recurring year this apprehension, it is 
gratifying to observe, grows fainter and less potent. 
In a time of great public blessings, when the mercies 
of Providence are being dispensed to us with a 
bountiful hand, let us not esteem it the least of. 
them that we are citizens of a metropolis that has 
no “dangerous classes” of any considerable strength, — 
and needs not, as do some of the cities of older 
civilizations, to lie down in terror and rise up in 
dread of its own inhabitants. 

The ballot-boxes of Boston are the registries, | 


let us never forget, of the will of a community 


MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 5 


in which intelligence is general, education com- 
mon and free, and culture widely diffused. In 
such a community it is impossible that there 
should ever be an aristocracy of virtue, or a 
monopoly of public spirit, so limited in numbers 
as to be outvoted by the vicious or sordid ele- 
ments of society. This is a tranquillizing reflec- 
tion, and should teach us to listen with untroubled 
ears to those civic pessimists who occasionally 
conjure up, for transient campaign purposes, the 
grim spectre of a Boston in which the majority 
of our fellow-citizens shall become incapable or 
unworthy longer to exercise the rights of free- 
men and perform the work of self-government. 
One of the ablest of the later chief magistrates 
of this city took occasion, just five years since, 
to discuss in his imaugural address this phase 
of our future as a municipality. He spoke then, 
as I speak now, after a city canvass of unwonted 
warmth, in which the same apprehensions to which 
I have alluded, touching the possible occupation 
of this Hall by a vicious body of elective officials, 
had been very freely and sharply, and by some, 
doubtless, sincerely, expressed. Speaking of the 
proposition that had then been mooted in some 
quarters, and which has recently been revived, of 


“attempting to raise the standard of municipal goy- 


6 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


ernment by a limitation of the suffrage,’ Mayor 
Pierce said from this desk, “Such legislation would 
be contrary to the traditions, the education, and 
the practice of our people.” I take pleasure in 
emphasizing, under circumstances strongly analo- 
gous, that opinion of my distinguished predeces- 
sor. JI am moved, indeed, to go farther, and 
assert my conviction that the finger-posts on the 
road of Reform all poimt the other way, and 
direct us to an enlargement, rather than a con- 
traction, of the suffrage, as the true remedy for 
the evils that now admittedly taint the character, 
by debasing the methods, of our annual elections. 
The strength of the social order, and of any 
government by which it is preserved, is like the — 
strength of the pyramid, proportioned to the 
breadth of its base. To every student of our 
electoral system it must be increasingly obvious 
with each succeeding election, that the greatest 
evil that vitiates its purity and its honesty, and 
imperils its usefulness as a means to the end of 
good government, is the employment of money 
to secure the success of candidates, whether of 
one party or the other, in sums so large as to 
far exceed the limit of legitimate political expen- 
ditures. 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 7; 


THE POLL-TAX QUALIFICATION. 


Nor is there any doubt that the restrictions 
now imposed upon our municipal suffrage offer a 
ready and convenient means for this process of 
political debauchery, if they do not actually invite 
it. Section 57 of the City Charter, following the 
Constitution of the State, provides that every male 
citizen who, being otherwise qualified, “shall have 
paid by himself or his parent, master, or guardian, 
any State or county tax, which ... shall have 
been assessed upon him in any town or district 
in this Commonwealth,” shall be entitled to vote 
at the — municipal election; and that, unless by 
law exempted from taxation, no other person 
shall be so entitled. This is what is popularly 
known as the poll-tax qualification. In view of 
the twice-declared will of the people of this city 
I venture to recommend to you that the General 
Court be petitioned for the passage of an act so 
amending the Charter as to make manhood suf- 
frage the basis of our municipal government, free 
from all restrictions except such as are necessary to 
test the intelligence of the voter. This proposed 
reform is often loosely spoken of as a movement 
for the abolition of the poll-tax. I cannot accept 
such a definition of it. The propriety and justice 


8 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


of the poll-tax, considered purely and simply as a 
demand upon every citizen to contribute to the 
support of the institutions -in whose benefits he 
shares, have never, to my knowledge, been se- 
riously called in question. Assuredly I shall not 
question them. qual burdens are the natural 
corollaries of equal rights, and I would not be 
understood for a moment to assail the poll-tax 
as a tax. It seems to me, on the contrary, to 
be an equitable impost, and one whose regular 
collection, by any and all proper and _ lawful 
means, legitimate for the collection of any other 
kind of tax or debt, would and should command 
the cheerful acquiescence of all good citizens. 
But there exists no justification either of good 
morals or of wise policy for making the “right 
preservative of all rights,” the right to the ballot, 
dependent either upon the levying or the pay- 
ment of taxes. To do so is to establish in 
essence and in fact a property qualification for 
voting, and, as has been well said, revises and 
reverses the ancient rallying cry of the Revolution, — 
so as to make it read, “No representation without 
taxation.” 

This is not the time or place for any extended 
argument touching the fundamental right of every 


citizen to cast one free, unintimidated, and untaxed 


MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 9 


vote. We have to do with the great question of free 
or taxed suffrage only in so far as it touches our own 
municipal business; and if you agree with me that 
the poll-tax qualification opens the door to bribery 
and corruption, — and instead of purging the fran- - 
chise, as it was intended to do, actually stimulates its 
prostitution by mercenary men, besides being in its 
essence an unjust and unjustifiable abridgment of 
the natural right of representation, — then, I trust, 
you will make the voice of the city on this subject 
heard in the Legislature in such manner as you may 


deem to be most practicable, pertinent, and potent. 


THE REGISTRATION LAWS. 


Closely connected with this topic are the laws 
governing the registration of voters, which, as they 
at present exist, throw serious impediments in the 
way of the exercise of the freeman’s right by large 
numbers of our fellow-citizens. We are all agreed, 
of course, that it is necessary to surround the ballot- 
box with proper and sufficient safeguards against 
fraud; but it would seem that this end could be 
obtained without imposing such conditions upon the 
suffrage as practically operate to disfranchise large 
numbers of voters. The process by which thousands 


of names of qualified voters are annually dropped 


10 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


from the lists, only to be restored at a considerable 
and onerous sacrifice of time and effort on the part 
of the individuals thus excluded from the register, 
constitutes a genuine grievance, which bears with 
peculiar hardship upon a large number of the people 
of our city. The closing of the lists a full fortnight 
before the holding of our annual election also seems — 
to me to be an unnecessary and unjust limitation of 
the rights of electors; and, in view of the fact that it 
is not generally imposed upon the voters of other 
cities and towns of the Commonwealth, I submit to 
you that it is a discrimination against the people of 
Boston which ought not longer to exist. I suggest 
to you the propriety, therefore, of making the modi- 
fication of the registration laws, also, the subject of 
action before the General Court. 


ELECTIONS. 


Before leaving this domain of fundamental law 
I will venture to submit one further proposal to 
your consideration. By Chapter 140 of the Statutes 
of 1872, amending the original Charter in that re-— 
spect, the day for holding our annual municipal 
election is fixed on the Tuesday after the second 
Monday of December. The complaint is made, 


and not without reason, that the frequent recurrence 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 1a) 


of election days, and the almost incessant turmoil 
of the canvasses which precede them, too much 
distract and disturb the business of the country 
and deprive it of that condition of political quietude 
which is so necessary to its highest prosperity. 
I believe that an amendment of the statute to 
which I have referred, so as to direct the collection 
of the votes of our citizens for municipal and state 
officers on the same’ day, would be received with 
satisfaction both by business men and working men, 
affording to both classes a welcome relief from the 
unnecessary burden of two exciting campaigns, one 
of which follows close upon the heels of the other. 
If this change could be effected the newly chosen 
Mayor would have the advantage of ample time 
in which to acquaint himself with the status of 
the city’s busimess, and would not have, as at 
present, to offer to the City Council on this an- 
nual occasion such hurriedly formed views and 
rapidly digested information as a necessarily brief 
examination of the work of the departments qualifies 


him to present. 


THE CITY’S FINANCES. 


Leaving these and all other matters that touch the 
organic law of this municipality to your wise dis- 


cretion, I desire now to direct your attention to 


12 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


the city’s financial affairs. The Auditor of Ac- 
counts has prepared a statement of them up to 
December 31, 1882, which, anticipating as _ it 
does his annual report, I think it proper to append 
for the general information and as a matter of 


record. 
. 2 CITY DEBT. 

Gross funded debt, December 31, 1881 . . $39,934,598 02 
Temporary debt, Dec. 31, 1881  . : : 84,000 00 


$40,018,598 02 
Add funded debt, issued in 1882, $1,981,500 00 


Temporary debt, issued in 


Cy gaat Same At AV oh 2% 97,000 00 
| |. 9. 0a ae 


$42,097,098 02 
Deduct funded debt paid in 1882, $907,520 14 














Temporary debt paid in 1882, . 84,000 00 
(a 991,520 14 
Gross debt, Dec. 31, 1882 . : ; . $41,105,577 88 
Sinking Funds, Dec. 31, 1881 . $15,056,065 73 
Receipts during 1882. : . 1,920,787 Se 
$16,976,803 26 
Payments during 1882 ; : 908,772 84 
$16,068,030 42 
Bonds and mortgages, the pay- . 
ments on which are pledged to 
the payment of debt ; : 656,522 44 
Total redemption means, Dec. 31, 1882 . . 16,724,552 86 


Net debt, Dec. 31, 1882 . . .  . $24,381,025 02 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 135 

















Gross debt, Dec. 31, 1882 : ; : . $41,105,577 88 
Gross debt, Dec. 31, 1881 ; ‘ . 40,018,598 02 
Increase . : : : 5 : : . $1,086,979 86 

' Net debt, Dec. 31, 1882 . : : : . $24,381,025 02 
Net debt, Dec. 31, 1881 . ; ; : . 24,248,046 60 
Increase . : : : A . ‘ ~ » *$182,978542 





City debt, including balance of debt assumed by 


acts of annexation . : : ; : . $28,123,303 90 
Cochituate Water debt : : : : mea See Cla oe 
Mystic Water debt. : : : : . 1,027,000 00 





$41,105,577 88 





Loans authorized, but not issued : — 
By City Council of 1877: — 


For Improved ‘Sewerage : : Z F 4 $28,500 00 
By City Council of 1881: — 

For West Roxbury Park . . $600,000 00 
City Point Park . ; ; 100,000 00 
East Boston Park . 50,000 00 


Charles River Embankment, 300,000 00 
Muddy River Improvement. 200,000 00 
Arnold Arboretum : : 60,000 00 


Widening Kneeland Street . 60,000 00 
- 3 — 1,870,000 00 

By City Council of 1882: — 

Improved Sewerage . . $1,500,000 00 


Warren Bridge . ; : 400,000 00 





For 


= 








1,900,000 00 








$3.298.500 00 





14 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


The following shows the debt and valuation for two years, 
also the debt and valuation per capita, based on the census 
(362,839) of 1880:— 


Debt Valuation 
Gross Debt. per Capita. per Capita. 


1881, $40,018,598 92 - $110 29  $665,554,600 $1,834 29 
1882, 41,105,577 88 113 28 672,490,100 1,858 41 


Valuation. 


From the above it will be seen that, while the debt has been 
increased 2,7, per cent., the taxable property has increased but 
1545 per cent. 

Of the total debt issued during the year ($2,078,500), 90358; 


per cent. was authorized in previous years. 


THE DEMAND FOR ECONOMY. 


I doubt not that you fully share with me a 
realizing sense of the popular demand for a 
strictly economic administration of the city’s busi- 
ness in all its departments. ‘’he mandate of our 
constituents, on this point, is clear and emphatic. 
That eminent English essayist, Dr. Johnson, 
writing of individual economy, uses language 
which may be appropriately applied to a civic 
corporation, without the change of a syllable: 
“Frugality,” he says, “may be termed the daughter 
of prudence, the sister of temperance, and the 
parent of liberty. He that is extravagant will 
quickly become poor, and poverty will enforce 


dependence and invite corruption.” It is a main 


MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 15 


security of popular government — alike in nation, 
state, or city, where, as with us, it rests on the 
suffrages of an intelligent and well-informed elec- 
torate — that the ereat mass of voters entertain a 
profound and deep-rooted aversion to wasteful 
expenditures. ‘he few may be, and history teaches 
us that they often have been, tempted to promote 
large enterprises at the public expense, without a 
considerate calculation of the outlay involved ; but 
the many, conscious that the burdens of taxation 
always press, in the final analysis, most heavily 
upon their shoulders, are the natural enemies of 
extravagance and the steadfast friends of frugality. 
I would remind you that the aggregate of our 
annual appropriations for the past three years has 
steadily increased. ‘The appropriation bill, for 1880- 
81, was for $10,190,387; for the year 1881-82, it 
touched the still higher figure of $10,475,081; and 
for the current fiscal year of 1882-83 it foots up 
to the yet larger aggregate of $11,054,535. It 
is imperative, therefore, that the appropriations 
for this year should be made with all due caution 
and cirecumspection, if a moderate rate of taxation 
is to be secured. Nor is it superfluous to remark 
that, whatever vagueness of responsibility for the 
appropriations and expenditures of previous years 


may have existed, there can and there will be no 


16 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


doubt where, nor upon whom, the tax-payers will 
fasten the accountability for any waste of the pub- 
lic money during the year upon which we are now 
entering. You will not expect that I should be 
able, in the short time given to me to examine the 
business of the various departments, to indicate, at 
this time, with precision and in detail, where the 
work of retrenchment may be properly and legiti- 
mately begun. I rely with confidence upon your 
sagacity and firmness in the scrutiny of all expendi- 
tures, as the occasions for making them shall arise, 
and you may certainly rely, in your turn, upon my 
loyal and hearty cooperation at all times for the 
purpose of redeeming our pledge to the people 
that all their municipal business shall be transacted 
with the same prudent economy with which we 


transact our own. 


FALSE AND TRUE ECONOMY. 


The reports of the several departments will be 
presented to you in due course, and it will be 
your duty to scrutinize them carefully wherever 
an expenditure of the public money is proposed. 
Nevertheless, in the management of the affairs of 
a great city, it is important that we distinguish 


between false and true economy. In one of his 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 1? 


famous “Letters to a Noble Lord,’ Burke lays 
down these wise maxims: “Expense and great 
expense may be an essential part of true economy. 

Economy is a distributive virtue, and con- 
sists not in saying, but in selection. Parsimony 
requires no prudence, no sagacity, no powers of 
combination, no comparison, no judgment. Mere 
instinct, and that not an instinct of the noblest 
kind, may produce this false economy in perfection. 
The other economy has larger views. It demands 
a discriminating judgment, and a firm, sagacious 
mind.” Gentlemen of the Council, it is not in the 
spirit of parsimony, but of that true economy which 
Burke thus admirably defined, that the people of . 
Boston expect us to transact their business. 


THE COMMISSIONS. 


Since the adoption of the present City Charter it 
has been amended by a large number of special acts, 
which have had the effect to work a silent but 
marked transformation in the character of our mu- 
nicipal government. It has often been pointed out 
that the City Council exerts a far stronger control 
over the public purse-strmgs than the Mayor, al- 
though the people, partly from the force of a habit 


acquired in earlier days, and partly from their invari- 


18 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


able tendency to seize upon some single and conspic- 
uous mark for their disapproval, and ignore those 
finer distinctions and nicer refinements of reasoning 
which are necessary to be made in correctly balancing 
the scales of justice, are still disposed to place to the 
credit of the executive for the time being the lion’s 
share of responsibility for any increase in the rate of 
taxation that may occur during his term. But, under 
the special statutes to which I have alluded, neither 
the Mayor by himself, nor the City Council by itself, 
nor both acting in concert, can any longer exercise 
that immediate and close supervision, or that direct 
and effective control, which they were formerly able 
to exercise over the great spending departments. 
The City Government of Boston is still in theory a 
government by elective officers, but in practice it has 
largely become a government by appointive officers. 
Most of our larger municipal departments are com- 
mitted to the keeping of Commissions. We have 
a Water Board, a Police Commission, a Fire 
Commission, a Park Commission, a Street Com- 
mission, a Board of Healtl, and several unpaid 
Commissions. These bodies are the practical man- 
agers of the great bulk of our affairs, whatever 
may be the theoretic checks imposed upon them 
in the statutes by which they were created. In 


the main, and speaking broadly, they haye been 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 19 


composed thus far of capable and efficient officers, 
who have rendered to the city, in their several de- 
partments, faithful and valuable service. Neverthe- 
less it is open to serious question whether these 
Commissions, as at present organized, are either as 
efficient or economic administrators of the business 
committed to their charge as it is desirable they 
should be. ‘The opmion widely prevails that some 
of them exercise a variety of incongruous powers, 
all of which ought not to be vested in the same 
body; while in their multiplicity, and the stereo- 
typed adherence, in every case, to the trinitarian 
basis of construction, it is very generally believed 
that there is employed a larger aggregate number 
of these officials, involving a correspondingly large 
addition to the salary list of the city, than is really 
necessary for the business-like conduct of the affairs 
thus divided, and needlessly subdivided, among them. 

It is not at all clear to me that it is wise or 
profitable to insist upon a City Commission, in every 
ease, consisting of three members. There are 
objections, too, of considerable weight and force, 
to the joint jurisdiction now exercised by one Com- 
mission over the police and the license system; 
and it would be, in the judgment of many citizens, 
wise to place the supervision of these two distinct 


branches of our municipal business in the hands of 


20 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


separate, distinct, and distinctly independent author- 
ities. JI have not yet been able to give that mature 
consideration to this important subject, of the rela- 
tions of the City Government to its Commissions, 
which would enable me to make any definite and 
specific recommendation. I content myself, there- 
fore, for the present, with imviting your attention 
to the subject, in this general way, and suggesting 
to you an inquiry into the workings of the various 
Commissions, and the feasibility and desirability 
of consolidating and reorganizing them, and so 
revising their functions, and reducing their mem- 
bership, as to increase their effective working- 
powers, and at the same time decrease their cost 
to the tax-payers. Such an examination, I believe, 
would justify the application to the Legislature 
for a grant of authority to the City Council to 
reconstruct the Commissions, and distribute their 
powers, as in its judgment the public welfare may 
demand. 


WATER SUPPLY. 


There is one subject which seems to me to call 
for special attention and speedy action. I refer to the 
water supply. The Cochituate Water-Works have 
cost the city up to December 1, 1882, $17,109,825.84 ; 
the Mystic Water- Works, to same date, $1,638,556.16. 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. DA 


This is a large expenditure, considered positively, 
and comparatively considered as against the cost 
of like works in other cities, it is very large. The 
annual cost of the maintenance of these originally 
expensive works is also very high as compared 
with the same item in the accounts of other cities. 
This generous outlay of the public money has 
not been grudgingly made, and if its object, which 
was to obtain an abundant supply of pure water 
for the inhabitants of this great and rapidly grow- 
ing metropolis, were only secured, it is not likely 
that we should hear any serious complaints from 
the people. It appears, however, that the supply 
cannot be regarded as abundant, and there is, to 
say the least, grave doubts as to its purity. After 
so lavish an expenditure of money it is not agree- 
able to find that neither in the quantity nor the 
quality of our water do we enjoy that assured 
preéminence among American cities which such 
a liberal policy, both in the construction and 
maintenance of our water-works fairly encouraged 
us to expect. The latest report of the Water 
Board emphasizes the need of still further enlarging 
the capacity of the works, to meet the growing 
demands of water-takers. It also calls attention 
to the alarming waste of water which is going 


on in the city, and to which no effective check 


Yip MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


has yet been applied. ‘The statistics of our daily 
consumption of water are indeed startling. They 
establish the fact that we are consuming an average 
of 92 gallons per day per capita. 

When it is stated that the average daily con- 
sumption per capita in Brooklyn is but 54 gallons; 
in Providence 36 gallons,—to take examples from 
among other American cities; while, among Hng- 
lish cities, London and Liverpool consume only 27 
gallons per day, per head of population, it needs 
no argument to show that a consumption of 92 
gallons per day in Boston must cover a very 
large percentage of sheer waste (estimated by 
competent judges at 50 per cent. of the total 
amount), to which it is our duty, as soon as possi- 
ble, to put a stop. Unless this exhaustingly waste- 
ful draft upon our present resources shall soon 
cease many years cannot elapse before new sources 
of supply must be sought, and new works under- 
taken, at a cost to the tax-payers that will be 
reckoned by millions. Still more serious and urgent 


are the complaints, that are now made with in- 


creasing frequency, of the impure condition of the 


water. During last summer it is notorious that 
immense quantities of drinking-water were brought 
into Boston, from suburban springs, and eagerly 


bought by thousands of citizens who were un- 


MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 93 


willing to drink the water supplied to them by the 
city at such a heavy annual cost. These patent 
causes of the current dissatisfaction with our water 
supply are, in any aspect, of the first importance. 
Their removal is demanded, not only in the interest 
of economy, but in the still higher interest of the 
public health. Im this view of it the matter is one 
that nearly touches not only the comfort and con- 
venience, but the very lives, of the people. All 
competent authorities are agreed that there is no 
more prolific source of peril to the public health 
than the use of impure drinking-water. On 
sanitary, as well as economic grounds, I feel it 
my duty, therefore, to earnestly urge upon you to 
adopt such action as in your wisdom may seem 
best calculated to secure to all the inhabitants of 
this city an ample supply of pure, wholesome, and 
healthful water, and to prevent its wasteful con- 
sumption. A Commission appointed by the last 
City Government, in September, 1882, is now ex- 
amining this difficult and important subject, and 


its early report is awaited with eager interest. 


STREETS. 


In the past five years: large amounts have been 


expended, and judiciously expended, in notable im- 


DA. MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


provements of our public streets. Such improye- 
ments which directly increase the business facilities 
of the city should never be regarded from the 
stand-point of a narrow and short-sighted economy. 
Nevertheless, in view of the large expenditures 
involved in this class of improvements, I deem it 
my duty to urge upon you that the laying out of 
new streets during the coming year should only be 
undertaken where their public utility clearly calls for 
their construction. 

The amount expended. upon streets during the 


past year is as follows: — 


Laying out and widening : : . $769,581 09 
Construction and maintenance (from Jan. 1 to 
Dec. 20, 1882) . ; 5 ; : : . $1,082,595 52 


LAMP DEPARTMENT. 


The cost of this department for the past year was 
$438,191.08. 

The contracts with all the gas corporations and 
electric lighting companies expire during the year; 
and it is expected that contracts with the gas com- 
panies can be renewed at a reduced price, as 
such a reduction for private consumers has already 


been announced by several corporations, to take 
effect January 1, 1883. 


MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 25 


‘There are 13,000 public street-lights, of various 
kinds, in the streets and ways of the city. The 
illumination of some of our most frequented streets 
_by large gas-lights, or the electric light, meets with 
popular favor, and should be continued and judi- 
ciously increased. 

It is hoped that, with the expected reduction in the 
price of gas, any increase in the appropriation for the 


department the present year may be avoided. 


POLICE. 


The Police Department will ask you for a steam- 
launch, to patrol the twenty-two miles of wharves 
now inadequately protected by the harbor police in 
row-boats. ‘This seems to be a necessary increase 
of our police facilities. The telephone and electric- 
signal system may also, I think, be applied with 
great advantage to the general efficiency of this 
department. ‘The Police Commissioners report that 
the policemen of Boston are in a state of excellent 
discipline, and that their service during the year 
has been faithful and efficient. 


THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. 


The protection of life and property from loss 


by fire is another important municipal concern. 


26 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


The value of property destroyed by fire in the 
city, durmg the past eleven months, aggregates 
$625,000. I cordially indorse the recommendation 
of the Fire Commissioners, that some action 
should be taken to require manufacturers, who 
employ large numbers of workingmen and women 
in the upper stories of buildings, to provide - 
adequate and ample means of escape in case 
of fire. An estimate, in which I have confidence, 
places the number of persons thus employed in 
our city at about 50,000. 

The lives of so large a number of persons should 
not be left, as in so many buildings at present, to the 
mercy of chance and good fortune; but their safety 
should, so far as human prevision and provision can 
effect it, be fully ensured. The report of the Fire 
Commissioners will, I understand, urge upon you 
the need of a larger and better lighted repair-shop, 
for which the land has been already set apart. 
This repair-shop, it is affirmed, has saved thousands 
of dollars to the tax-payers since its establishment; 
_ and if it shall appear to you that the investment 
proposed to be made, in building a newer and . 
better one, would result in a still further saving of 
the public money in years to come, I doubt not 
that it will commend itself to your approval as a 
measure of true economy. } 


ae 4-7 


MAYOR’S ADDRESS. yf 


PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 


The Board of Directors of Public Institutions 
will again urge upon you the necessity of con- 
structing extensions to the various buildings in 
which the poor of the city are housed and cared 
for. Their proposition for a consolidation of the 
institutions in which we provide for these unfor- 
tunates will also, no doubt, be renewed, and this 
seems to me to be emphatically a case in which 
true economy demands that the exigencies of the 
future shall have their due weight in determining 


your action. 


PARKS. 


Work on the Back Bay Park is steadily pro- 
gressing, and the land for the East Boston Park 
has been purchased. The Arnold Arboretum, and 
other lands in connection therewith, have also been 
taken, and a lease concluded with the President 
and Fellows of Harvard College, agreeable to the 
provisions of the special act for that purpose and 
the orders of the City Council in relation thereto. 
Appropriations will be asked to carry on this work. 
I trust that in making them you will not permit 
the tax-levy for the next fiscal year to be overbur- 


dened by an unduly large proportion of the total 


IS MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


outlay for our park system, which will require years 
to develop and complete. 

A Park System, in general outlines, is now 
established, and it is safe to say that it meets 
with a generous approval. The general manage- 
ment of the great work is in the hands of a 
Commission competent for the service, and the 
public may feel assured that the several parts 
of the system will receive impartial attention. 
It is well known that the service of the Com- 
mission is gratuitous, and it ought to be equally 
well known that it is highly appreciated. 


THE NEW SEWERAGE SYSTEM. 


The city is to be congratulated on the ap- 
proaching completion of the New and Improved 
System of Sewerage. Speaking generally it may 
be said that the whole system will be sufficiently 
advanced during the coming year to be made 
available for removing the ‘most noticeable causes 
of nuisance in our present sewerage system. 
There will then remain to be built extensions of . 
the intercepting sewers, to take the sewage from 
the north end of the city proper and the east- 
erly portions of South Boston. 

The work thus far has cost somewhat more 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 29 


than was at first estimated, owing to the greatly 
enhanced prices of labor and materials since the 
preliminary estimates were made. As there seems 
to be no probability that prices will much further 
advance, the cost of future work should not ex- 
ceed the more recent estimates and appropriations. 
‘The total expenditures chargeable to this ac- 
count, including the draft for January, 1883, is 
$3,388 ,045.89. 


THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT. 


The general health of Boston, it is gratifying to 
observe, compares favorably with that of other 
cities. We have enjoyed entire immunity from 
epidemics during the past year, and the death-rate 
has fallen below the average rate for many years 
past. The report of the Board of Health will 
apprise you in detail of the work of this impor- 
tant department, and, J doubt not, that if it has 
any new propositions to submit to you for still 
further guarding the public health, they will receive, 
as they deserve, your prompt and earnest consider- 


ation. 
SCHOOLS. 


I would especially emphasize the distinction 


already drawn between parsimony and true econ- 


30 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


omy in our dealings with the educational interests 
of the city, as to which I shall be pardoned, I 
hope, if I speak with some degree of personal 
interest and sympathy. ‘There is no Boston inter- 
est so dear to all her people, without distinction of 
class, creed, or party, as her public schools. Of 
all the undying words penned or spoken by 
Macaulay, there are none which have exerted 
a more potent or permanent charm, in my 
reading of that great publicist, than one which 
occurs in a speech which he delivered on educa- 
tion, in 1847, in which he pays this glowing tribute 
to our beloved Commonwealth: ‘Go back,” says 
Macaulay, “to the days when the little society, 
which has expanded into the opulent and enlight- 
ened Commonwealth of Massachusetts, began to 
exist... . . One of the earliest laws enacted by 
the Puritan colonists was lhat every township, 
as soon as the Lord had increased it to the number 
of fifty houses, should appoint one to teach all 
children to read and write, and that every town- 
ship of a hundred houses should set up a gram- 


mar i school. Nor have the descendants of those . 


who made this law ever ceased to hold that 
the public authorities were bound to provide the 
means of public instruction. Nor is this doctrine 


confined to New England. ‘ Hducate the people’ 








MAYOR’S ADDRESS. ih 


was the first admonition addressed by Penn to 
the colony which he founded. ‘ Educate the 
people’ was the legacy of Washington to the nation 
he had saved. ‘Educate the people’ was the un- 
ceasing exhortation of Jefferson.” 

The zeal of our forefathers for popular education, 
to which the brilliant British historian and essayist 
paid this high tribute, still lives in the metropolis 
of New England. The common school is the key- 
stone of the arch of our civilization. 

There are now, by the latest census, 522 public 
schools in this city, with a corps of 1,275 teachers 
and 55,900 scholars. The appropriation last year 


for the maintenance of this large educational equip- 








ment was: — 

For current expenses . : : : : . $1,446,007 00 
Repair of buildings : : 3 : : 169,500 00 
New buildings and site. : : : 135,049 00 
motale < ; : . : : ; . $1,750,556 00. 





With the yearly increment of about one thousand 
scholars, it is not to be expected that the appro- 
priation needed for this year will be less. It is, 
however, gratifying to note that the net cost 
per pupil has been steadily lessened of late years, 
having fallen from $36.54 in 1874 to $26.98 in 


ou MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


1882. The people of Boston, I am satisfied, spend 
no money more cheerfully than that which is an- 
nually voted for the support of their public schools. 
Prudence in making appropriations for this object 
is, of course, expected; but parsimony would be 
unpardonable and unpardoned by our people, and 
especially by the great body of our working people, 
to whom the common schools are the perpetual 
pledge of equal privileges for themselves and the 
perennial promise and guarantee of social progress 


for their posterity. 


PUBLIC LIBRARY. 


Closely allied with our schools, and supplementing 
them in the work of popular education, is the 
Public Library. The Board of ‘Trustees will, 
doubtless, renew this year their appeal made to 
the City Council of 1882, for the taking of the 
land on the corner of Dartmouth and Boylston 
streets, and the commencement of the erection of a 


new library building thereon. ‘This subject should 


be dealt with, I submit to you, in the same broad — 


and liberal spirit which has governed us in the 
past in dealing with this noble and incalculably 
useful institution; and I doubt not that you will 


dispose of it with a due sense of its inestimable 








MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 33 


value to the city and of the growing demands 
made upon its resources, by the readers whose 
numbers steadily increase with our constantly 


increasing population. 


CONCLUSION. 


Gentlemen of the Council : — 


I have detained you, I fear, at tedious length 
with these suggestions. If I have fallen into the 
vice of iteration, and have seemed to repeat the 
word economy too often, I must plead, in _pallia- 
tion of my offence, that it is the imperial word 
that dominates the hour. Construing the man- 
date in no narrow spirit, but with a liberal and 
enlightened appreciation of the city’s future and 
ultimate, as well as its present and immediate, needs, 
let us now resolutely address ourselves to the dis- 
charge of our duties. We are, it is proper for us 
to remember, called to the conduct of this munici- 
pal government under circumstances which impose 
upon us a special responsibility. Criticism we 
may not hope, and should not desire, to escape; 
censure we may have to endure; but let us, at 
least, have the satisfaction of knowing that it is 
undeserved. With patience, prudence, and _firm- 


ness, let us perform the work committed to us 


6 


34 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


by the people, so that when the year on whose 
threshold we now stand has run its course we 
may be able, in the proud consciousness of duty 
well done, to wrap the mantle of our integrity 
around us, and making room for our successors, 
transmit to them the white shield of Boston as 
stainless as we receive it, with all her ancient 
civic glory undimmed, and not one jot or tittle 
deducted from the grand total of her historie 


fame. 


























- 





\SS4 
“INAUGURAL ADDRESS 


|| AUGUSTUS P, MARTIN, 


BEFORE THE APR G 196 , 

































































BOSTON: 
ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL, CITY PRINTERS. 


No. 39,ARCH STREET. 


1884. 

















INAUGURAL ADDRESS 


OF 


AUGUSTUS P. MARTIN, 


BEFORE THE 


Chey COUN CPL, 


JANUARY 7, 1884, 





















































Bb Osc OANs* 


ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL, CITY PRINTERS, 
No. 89 ARCH STREET, 


1884. 


J. 


CITY OF BOSTON. 


In Common Councin, January 7, 1884. 
Ordered, That His Honor the Mayor be requested to 
furnish a copy of his Address, that the same may be 
printed. 
Sent up for concurrence. 
JOHN H. LEE, 
President. 


In Boarp oF ALDERMEN, January 14, 1884. 
Concurred. 
C. V. WHITTEN, 


Chairman. 








Sv IBY Ball Die ihe 


GENTLEMEN OF THE Ciry CoUNCIL: — 


Having been selected by the citizens of Boston to 
administer the business affairs of the corporation for 
the present year, we meet to assume the trust, and to 
pledge ourselves to the faithful performance of our 
duties. | 

It is an occasion for congratulation that we enter 


upon these duties untrammelled by any party obliga- 


tions; that the offices we hold are not rewards con- 


ferred for political services; that we are here as repre- 
sentatives of the people, irrespective of party, who 
have again, in an unmistakable manner, pronounced 
against the pernicious theory that the city govern- 
ment should be administered upon a partisan basis, 
or in the interests of any political party. 

Let us remember that the City of Boston is a 
municipal corporation, created by law for the benefit 
of the public, and that we are the officers chosen to 


manage its affairs for the time being, as the directors 


6 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


of a railroad corporation are elected by the stock- 
holders. It is our duty, therefore, to apply the same 
rules to the transaction of the city’s business that we 
would to our own, or to the business of any corpo- 
ration with which we might be connected; in short, 
to administer the trusts confided to us as a business 
matter, our whole aim being to promote the interests 
of the community, irrespective of race, creed, or 
politics. | 

Sincerely grateful for the unexpected and un- 
sought-for honor which has been conferred upon 
me, I enter upon my duties with a deep sense of 
responsibility, and a firm determination to do all that 
lies in my power to maintain our city’s honored name 
and reputation; and in this I invoke your assistance, 
at the same time assuring you of my heartiest codp- 
eration in all measures tending to promote the city’s 
welfare. 

It is not my intention to occupy your time with 
a detailed statement of city business. The annual 
reports of the several departments will soon be pre- 
sented, and they contain, in a systematized form, the 
information which I could only give at second-hand. 
I shall, therefore, confine myself to some of the 
most important matters that I have been enabled 
to consider in the limited time allowed for the 
preparation of this address. 





fr 
Nee 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


FINANCE. 


~ 


J invite your attention to the following statement 


of the financial condition of the city :— 


Gross funded debt, Dec. 31, 1882 
Temporary debt, Dec. 31, 1882 


Add funded debt issued in 1883 


Deduct funded debt paid in 1883, $1,742,953 92 
Temporary debt paid in 1883, 97,000 00 





Gross debt, Dec. 31, 1883 . 


Sinking Funds, Dec. 31, 1882, $16,068,030 42 
Receipts during 1883 : 2,244,737 19 
$18,312,767 61 
Payments during 1883 tk 1,744,443 26 
$16,568,324 35 
Bonds and mortgages, the pay- 
ments on which are pledged to 
the payment of debt. : 664,164 09 
Total redemption means, Dec. 31, 1883 


Net debt, Dec. 31, 1883 . 


Gross debt, Dec. 31, 1883 . 
Gross debt, Dec. 31, 1882. 


Increase 


$41,008,577 88 
97,000 00 


$41,105,577 88 
8,278,500 00 





$44,384,077 88 


1,839,953 92 


. $42,544,123 96 


17,232,488 44 
$25,311,635 52 





$42,544,123 96 
41,105,577 88 


—_—. 








$1,438,546 08 





8 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


Net debt, Dec. 31, 1883 
Net debt, Dec. 31, 1882 


Increase . 


City, debt, including balance of debts as- 
sumed by acts of annexation . 

Cochituate Water Debt 

Mystic Water Debt 


Loans authorized, but not issued : — 
By City Council of 1881, — 


$25,311,685 52 
24,381,025 02 


($930,610 50 





$29,252,849 98 
12,451,273 98 
840,000 00 


$42,544,123 96 








‘4 
Muddy-river Improvement . - $75,000 00 
Widening Kneeland Street . : 59,000 00 





By City Council of 1882, — 
Improved Sewerage 
By City Council of 1883, — 





$134,000 .00 


697,000 00 


West Roxbury Park ; ; . $500,000 00 


Library building, Dartmouth street 


and St. James avenue 4 . 450,000 00 
Additional Supply of Water . 245,000 00 


Introduction of Meters and Inspec- 


tion .. ; é ; ; . 280,000 00 





1,475,000 00 


$2,306,000 00 





It will be seen, from the foregoing, that in 1885 
the gross debt was increased $1,4838,546.08. ‘This 


is an increase in the debt of 3 1-2 per cent., 








MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 9 


while the valuation was increased last year only 
1 1-2 per cent. JI am informed that the appro- 
priations for several departments are already run- 
ning short, and that it will be necessary to borrow 
at least one hundred thousand dollars, to meet 
current expenses, before the close of the present 
financial year. 

This would be a departure from the pay-as-you- 
go policy, which has prevailed for many years. 

The unfinished business of last year will bring 
before you a number of projects for public im- 
provements, some of them involving heavy ex- 
pense. ‘This, with the prospect that additional 
appropriations will be required, together with the 
increase in the item of interest on the debt, and 
the usual requirements for conducting the public 
business, will demand on your part the exercise 
of the greatest economy. By economy I do not 
mean that parsimony which would neglect the 
true interests of the city to make a show of 
saving; or which would embarrass the public ser- 
vice, and throw upon future governments the burden 
of supplying the deficiency. I mean the economy 
that consists in preventing all extravagance; in 
carrying on business at the lowest cost consistent 
with efficiency; and in rejecting all projects that 


do not look solely to the public welfare. 


10 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


As you will soon have to pass upon the es- 
timates for the next financial year, I wish to 
impress upon you the necessity of scrutinizing all 
requests for appropriations closely; of allowing only 
what you find actually necessary; and then of 
requiring each department to keep within the 
limit of its appropriation. I am informed that it 
is not an uncommon occurrence for departments 
to overrun their appropriation, trusting to having 
an additional sum allowed towards the close of 
the financial year. This is unjustifiable, except in 
case of unforeseen emergency. 

In order to illustrate this more fully I call 
your attention to what is called the Stony-brook 
Improvement. 

The City Council of 1877 passed a loan-order 
for $133,000, for the improvement of Stony brook, 


in Roxbury and West Roxbury. Since the com-— 


mencement of this work there have been three 
annual appropriations, three transfers, and a 
special credit for materials sold appropriated to 
meet expenses; a total thus far of $302,402.44, 
and it is estimated that $25,000 more will be 
required to complete the work. 

When a public work has been determined upon, 
the most careful estimates should be made, and 


an appropriation then provided sufficient to cover 











MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 11 


the estimated cost. From the fact that so many 
public works and buildings have required additional 
appropriations, it would appear that proper es- 
timates were not made. Of the nineteen appropri- 
ations made for new buildings, or extensive al- 
terations in old buildings, during the past two years, 
eight have already had additional appropriations. 
Only one has been completed according to the 
estimate. 

The following table shows the amount of the 
transfers made by order of the City Council 
during the past ten years, the amount added to 
the regular appropriations, and the percentage of 


these additions to the total of transfers: — 


Total of Transfers to 
Year. Transfers. Regular Appropriations. Percentage. 
1873-74 $602,267 02 $348,587 90 57.7 
1874-75 420,970 02 LUZ 73h. 53 A ee 
1875-76 714,880 97 ite: by Rey 39.7 
1876-77 418,398 54 1295298 24 30.9 
1877-78 211,167 50 1225823502 58 
1878-79 171,404 32 135,484 75 iD 
1879-80 342,187 07 241,597 81 70.6 
1880-81 270,814 35 19251'74:25 71 
1881-82 229,659 07 165,124 38 71.9 
1882-83 261,010 11 158,803 08 60.8 


In common with other citizens my attention has 


been attracted to the criticisms which have from time 


12 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


to time appeared in the public prints in regard to 
expenditures for refreshments. J am aware that the 
Mayor has very little control over this class of 
expenditures; but I deem it my duty to call your 
attention to the subject, with the hope that now, at 
the beginning of a new year, radical measures of 
reform may be adopted. I have grave doubts as to 
the legality of expending the public money for such 
purposes; but, be that as it may, I sincerely hope 
that the City Council will itself effect a reformation, 
and render a judicial determination of the question, 
or legislative intervention, unnecessary. 

Our citizens do not object to any necessary 
expense that may be incurred in transacting pub- 
lic business, nor would they have the ancient 
reputation of the city for hospitality to those who 


may be entitled to municipal courtesies abated. ‘The 


objection is to the abuse of the privilege; and public — 


opinion, as well as a decent regard for official 
propriety, demands that such abuses shall be reme- 


died. 


WATER. 


The cost of constructing the Water Works to 
May Ist, 1883, was, for the Cochituate Department, 
$17,184,751.14; for the Mystic Department, $1,641,- 
762.22. Notwithstanding the large sums that have 








») 


MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 13 


been expended in the endeavor to provide an abun- 
dant supply, the consumption of water has increased 
so largely that, in dry seasons, the capacity of the 
works is not equal to the demand, and the danger 
of a water famine becomes imminent. 

This state of things is due, not to a legitimate use 
of water, but to the fact that a large percentage of 
the supply is wilfully wasted. 

The Water Board, in a report to the last City 
Council (City Document 173, 1883), stated the case 
so tersely and forcibly that I quote their remarks: — 


It is an indisputable fact that at least forty per cent. of our 
entire water supply is wasted. It cannot be denied that, if the 
water which is wilfully wasted every year in Boston could be sold 
at our regular rates, the receipts would pay the annual interest on 
the whole $20,000,000 invested in the water supply, and several 
hundred thousand dollars besides. No one doubts the existence 
of the evil, nor questions the causes thereof, or the necessity of 
adopting the most effective remedial measures. “Other cities 
afflicted with the same evil have passed through the same experi- 
ence, and we must be guided by their example if we expect relief. 

. We believe that the consumption of water in 
Boston can be reduced to sixty gallons per capita; and if it can be 
done no more money will be required for new basins, or additional 
sources of supply, in the Cochituate Department, for a period of 
at least fifteen years. If immediate steps are not taken to reduce 
the consumption, an expenditure of $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 
will be required within the next fifteen years. If the.Providence 


and Liverpool systems be vigorously continued, as now begun, we 


14 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


believe the City of Boston will save for her citizens between two 


and three millions of dollars during the next thirty years. 


Last year the Water Board made an energetic 
effort to prevent waste. A system of inspection was 
begun in July, and in November a saving of 
3,000,000 gallons per day was reported, although 
only a portion of the city had been inspected. ‘This 
shows that it is practicable to prevent waste, at least 
toa great extent; and the Water Board should be 
supported in its efforts in this direction. } 

During the past season considerable was done 
toward improving the condition of Basins 2 and 3, 
by deepening the shallow flowage and removing 
muck and loam. The work on Basin 4 has made 


good progress, and the City Engineer considers that 


it will be practicable to partially fill the basin dur- 


ing the winter and spring of 1884-85. 


Among the unfinished business referred from the 


last City Council is the subject of purchasing the — 


franchise and property of the Jamaica Pond Aque- 
duct Corporation. The Water Board believes that 
at the present rate of charge to its consumers, which 
is one-third less than city rates, the property will pay 
‘SIX per cent. upon an investment of $100,000, and a 
proportionately higher percentage of interest if the 
water-rates were raised to the Boston standard. If 








MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 15 


this be so it would be a wise investment to purchase 
the property, if it can be obtained for $100,000; and I 
commend the subject to your early consideration. 

Another matter of unfinished business that will 
come before you is the extension of the high-service 
works. ‘The estimated cost of the work is $778,800. 
The Water Board and City Engineer concur in the 
opinion that decisive measures should at once be 
taken on this subject. The temporary expedients 
which have been adopted to postpone the commence- 
ment of the work have been practically exhausted, 
and the inadequacy of the present supply is being 
severely felt. From an examination of a plan 
recently submitted to me by the City Engineer, I 
find that at least one-half the area of the city is 
dependent upon the high-service; therefore a failure 
in this supply would occasion much trouble, and, in 
case of fire, would entail disastrous consequences. XE 
am of the opinion that the City Council should take 
some definite action upon the subject. 

The Water Board is seeking to cure and pre- 
vent the contamination of our water supply, not 
only by deepening the shallow area of the basins, 
but by removing all sources of pollution from the 
streams that empty into the several reservoirs.. 
No effort or expense should be spared in_ this 


direction. 


16 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


PUBLIC PARKS. 


Work on the public parks has been actively prose- 


cuted during the past year. -On the Back Bay park 


the principal engineering work has been completed. 
One bridge remains to be built; the rest of the work 
consists principally of grading the surface and drive- 
ways, and excavating and forming the water-ways 
and shores. The Beacon-street and Boylston-street 
entrances are so far advanced that they can be com- 
pleted in the spring, when Commonwealth avenue 
extended and Ipswich and Jersey streets can be 
opened for travel. 

West Roxbury park was opened to the public last 
spring, and was visited by large numbers of people 
during the summer. ‘Topographical surveys have 


been made with a view to the gradual improve- 


ment of this park. It is so accessible, and pos-— 


sesses such attractive features, that it is destined 
to become a favorite place of resort. In my opinion 
it would be wiser to increase the area, as our means 
will permit, than to expend large sums in making 
improvements. | 
Land for a Marine park at City Point was taken 
last year. Some grading has been done and a topo- 
graphical survey made. <A petition was presented to 


Congress for the cession of Castle Island, for the 








MAYOR’S ADDRESS. Bud 


purposes of this park. If the cession is made it will 
be desirable to connect the island with the main-land, 
and for this purpose application should be made to 
the Legislature for a grant of the flats lying between 
the two points. The work of constructing a drive- 
way at Bussey park and Arnold arboretum has pro- 
gressed as fast as the limited appropriation would 
permit. By the terms of the agreement with Har- 
vard University the city is required to build drive- 
ways, at a cost not exceeding $75,000. The sum of 
$15,000 was appropriated last year for this work. 

Land has been taken for the Charles-river embank- 
ment, and surveys and soundings made for the sea- 
wall. ‘The act granting the right to build the wall 
requires that it shall be built, and the grounds filled 
and fitted up, before March 16, 1886. 

A topographical survey has been made of Wood 
Island park, and plans and estimates for its improve- 
ment will, in due time, be submitted to you. 

The Muddy-river improvement is in charge of the 
Park Department. The covered channel to convey 
the waters of the river, vza Brookline avenue, to 
Charles river has been completed. About eleven 
acres of land on the banks of the river have been 
purchased. It is understood that the Park Commis- 


sioners of the town of Brookline are purchasing the 


18 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


lands in that town which form a part of this joint 
improvement. , 

In my opinion the Common, Public Garden, and all 
other public squares, should be placed in charge of 
the Park Commissioners. I believe that the manage- 
ment and improvement of the public grounds can be 
more systematically and economically conducted by 


that Board than is possible under the present system. 


PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 


Among the matters referred to you by the last 
City Council is the subject of consolidating the 
pauper institutions. It is the deliberate opinion of 
the Directors for Public Institutions that an efficient 


and economical management of these institutions de- 


mands that they should be brought together. If the — 


present system is continued an expenditure of at 
least $125,000 will be necessary to meet pressing and 
immediate wants, with the prospect of additional 
appropriations being required in the near future. 
The proposition is to consolidate the institutions 
now at Rainsford Island, Austin Farm, Charlestown 
Almshouse, and Marcella-street Home into one insti- 
tution in some convenient locality. It, of course, 
needs no argument to prove that the proposition is 


in the line of economy as far as managing the insti- 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 19 


tutions is concerned, to say nothing of saving in 
other ways; and I commend the subject to your early 
consideration. 

The hospital accommodations at Deer Island 
are insufficient, and an improvement is imperatively 
demanded. 


SCHOOLS. 


According to the latest statistics the city main- 
tains the following schools: one Normal, ten Latin 
and High, fifty-one Grammar, and four hundred and 
sixty-four Primary. Besides these the following 
special schools are maintained: one for Deaf-mutes, 
two for Licensed Minors, an Evening High School, 
thirteen Evening Elementary Schools, and_ five 
Evening Drawing Schools. The average number 
of pupils belonging to the regular day schools is 
54,177; the average number belonging to the special 
schools is 3,350. The number of teachers employed 
is 1,298, of whom 191 are men and 1,107 are women. 
The appropriations made by the City Council for 
Public Schools for the present year amounted to 
$1,453,061; the expenditures for the first nine months | 
have been $1,091,044.16, leaving an unexpended bal- 
ance of $367,016.84. The appropriation for repairs, 
furniture, etc., was $169,000, and there have been 


20 | MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


special appropriations for new buildings and altera- 
tion of old buildings made during the year. 

An appropriation was made near the close of last 
year for establishing an Industrial School, in which 
elementary instruction in the mechanic arts is to be 
given to such of the Grammar-school boys as may 
choose to attend. The result of this experiment will 
be watched with much interest. If it succeeds in 
imparting to those boys who, upon leaving the 
Grammar Schools, at once begin to labor for their 
own support, a stock of practical knowledge which 
will fit them for the pursuits which many of them 
will adopt, the money will have been well expended. 

The following school buildings are in process of 
erection: Primary school-house, corner of O and 
Fifth streets; Primary school-house, corner of Dor- 
chester avenue and Harbor View street; Grammar 
school-house, Hammond street. An addition is be- 
ing built to the old Lyman school-house for the 
accommodation of the East Boston High School. 
The George Putnam school-house is being enlarged, 
and an addition is being built to the Auburn school- 
house. <A site for a Grammar school-house has been 
purchased.in Neponset, and a site for a new school- 
house on Blossom street has been acquired partly 
by purchase and partly by right of eminent domain. 


The School Committee have asked for a new 








MAYOR’S ADDRESS. OE 


Grammar school-house in the Comins District, and 


for a new Primary school-house at Faneuil. 


PUBLIC LIBRARY. 


The usefulness and value of this great educa- 
tional institution are so well understood and appre- 
ciated that no words of mine will add to the 
high reputation which it already enjoys. 

The proposed new building for the Reference 
Library will add to the security of the valuable 
collection of books, and will increase the useful- 
ness of the Library by rendering it more acces- 
sible to the public, and by furnishing greater 
facilities for study and consultation. — 

Land for the site of the new building was taken 
last year. ‘Three estates remain unsettled for.’ 
Architects have been invited to submit competitive 
designs for the building, and premiums amounting 
to $10,000 have been offered. The competition 
closes June Ist. ‘The estimated expense for land 


and building is $630,000. 


HEALTH DEPARTMENT. 


The health of the city during the past year has 


been good. No disease has assumed an epidemic 








1 Since the above was written, these estates have been purchased. 


29, MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


form. There have been only eight cases of small- 
pox, from which but one death ensued, and in no 
case was the disease allowed to spread. ‘The 
efforts of the Board of Health, to prevent the spread 
of diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, and mea- 
sles, have been attended with a reasonable degree 
of success; but the Board has been embarrassed 
by the want of proper accommodations for the 
isolation and treatment of these diseases. In their 
last Annual Report the Board suggested the advis- 
ability of adding to the present City Hospital 
another building, of sufficient capacity to accommo- 
date at least one hundred patients with contagious 
diseases, especially for the treatment of diseases of 
the above character. This suggestion: is worthy 
of consideration. | 

The JKearsarge burial-ground was closed last 
year. I am\of the opinion that interments should 
no longer be permitted within the limits of a 
dense population, and suggest the expediency of 


closing all burial-grounds in the city proper. 


MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS. 


The main drainage works, or improved system 
of sewerage, which have been in process of con- 
struction for several years, went into successful 
operation on the Ist instant. A full description of 








| 
- 


MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 93 


this important work having been lately given to 
the public it is unnecessary for me to enter into 
details here. The practical working of the system 
will be observed with great interest, and if it meets 
the expectations of its projectors, and relieves the 
city from the great evil of defective sewerage, the 
work will be a monument to the ability of those 
who designed and those who constructed it. 

The estimated cost of the work is $5,253,000; and 
$4,554,274.89 have been expended to date. 

The near completion of this important work raises 
the question of its management in the future. As 
the success of the system will for many years de- 
pend upon careful engineering supervision, it should 
be placed in charge of those who are familiar with 
the details of its construction. ‘The entire sewer- 
age system of the city should be placed under 
one management, either that of a department 
already in existence or one to be created. This is 
a necessity, if economical results are to be attained, 
and the completion of the main drainage works 
appears to be a proper time for considering this 


question. 


POLICE DEPARTMENT. 


The Police Commissioners will renew their request 


for the erection of a new station-house, on the land 


24 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


owned by the city, situated on the corner of Boylston 
and Hereford streets. The rapid growth of that 
portion of the city renders additional police pro- 
tection necessary, and a station-house is required 
before a new division can be formed. 

The Police Signal System now in operation in 
Chicago and other cities should be introduced here. 
It has been in successful operation for a sufficient 
length of time to prove its value as an adjunct to 
police service, to which it bears the same relation 
that the fire-alarm does to the Fire Department. I 
am informed that the appropriation for Police De- 
partment is sufficient to meet the expense of placing 
the apparatus in one or two divisions; and I recom- 
mend that the Police Commissioners be authorized 


to introduce it in at least one division, in order that 


the system may be thoroughly and practically tested 


here. 


FIRE DEPARTMENT. 


This important department of the public service is 
performing its duty in a manner satisfactory to the 
public. A new engine-house is now in process of 
erection on bunker-Hill street, Charlestown, for 
the accommodation of an additional company in that 
section of the city. You will be asked to provide for 


the erection of an engine and hook-and-ladder house 








MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 25 


on the lot at the corner of Boylston and Hereford 
streets, before alluded to in connection with the 
Police Department. A large number of valuable 
buildings have been erected in this part of the city, 
and the protection against fire is inadequate. A new 
repair-shop is needed, the present one being insuffi- 
cient for the requirements of the department. A lot 
of land on the corner of Albany and Bristol streets 
was set aside for the purpose, and plans for a build- 
ing were drawn; but no appropriation has yet been 
made for the building. By making the repairs on 
hose, harness, and apparatus, the department effects 
a large saving to the city, and it should be provided 
with the requisite facilities for doing the work to the 


best advantage. 


BUILDING LAW. 


The statutes relating to the survey and inspection 
of buildings need some amendments, in order to 
ensure safety in case of fire in family-hotels and 
apartment-houses. ‘This class of buildings is largely 
increasing, and every precaution should be taken to 


prevent the spread of fire and to protect life. 


LAMPS. 


The number of electric lamps has been largely 
Increased during the past year. ‘he total number 


26 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


now in use is 3881, of which 265 were erected in 
1883. An electric lamp costs $237.25 per annum, a 
gas lamp $54.00. Hach electric lamp displaces on 
an average 34 ordinary street lamps. The demand 
for the electric light is constantly increasing, and if it 
is to be satisfied the cost of lighting streets, which 
now amounts to about $500,000 per annum, must be 
greatly increased, if not actually doubled. The 
electric ight must be regarded as a luxury, and not a 
necessity. In some localities, notably the public 
squares or vicinity of railroad stations, it is a desir- 
able thing to have; but I question whether a proper 
regard for the interests of the city will warrant its 


general use for street-lighting. 


STREETS. 


The appropriation for Paving Department for 
the present financial year was $800,000. There 
have been expended to date $709,738.01. 

The appropriation for laying-out and widening 
streets was $100,000. In addition to this there 
have been sundry special appropriations, amounting 
in the aggregate to $138,500. 

There has therefore been appropriated for high- 
way purposes during the present financial ‘year 
the sum of $1,038,300. This is a large sum to 








MAYOR’S ADDRESS. ye 


be expended in a single direction; yet there are 
few purposes for which the tax-payers more readily 
contribute than for providing and maintaining the 
excellent highways for which Boston is “noted. 
But I am constrained to believe that we are 
progressing too fast in. this direction, and that we 
are incurring expenditures of greater magnitude 
than we now realize. 

In making their estimates the Street Commis- 
sioners consider only the cost of the right of way 
and removal of obstacles, paying no attention to the 
cost of construction of the roadway. There are a 
great many streets laid out for which the expense 
is estimated as nothing by the Commissioners, 
because the owners of the land to be taken find 
it for their advantage to give the right of way 
and to release all claims for damages. But the 
real cost of the streets so laid out begins when the 
work of the Commissioners ends. There is at once 
a clamor for their speedy construction; and if public 
safety and convenience required them to be laid out, 
the same considerations require them to be built. 
It is, of course, impossible to satisfy this demand. 
The Superintendent of Streets, who is charged with 
the work of construction, estimates that it will cost 
$2,000,000 to complete the work laid out by the 
Street Commissioners in 1883 alone. The prospect 


YS MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


of a great increase in the already large expendi- 
tures for highway purposes is therefore apparent. 
I am strongly of the opinion that streets should 
not be laid out, widened, or extended, unless the 
means are specially appropriated for putting them 
in order for public travel; and I shall be glad 


to approve any measures in this direction. 


TAXATION. 


The question of a high or low rate of taxation is 
one of vital importance to the community. The 
tendency of modern legislation is to exempt personal 
property from assessment, and to lay a tax upon 
real estate and tangible things only. It may be 
expected that, if this policy prevails, the time will 
come when we shall find our business interests 
seriously affected. We should therefore inquire into 
the subject, and be prepared to oppose any legis- 
lation which may be prejudicial to those interests 
upon which the success of the community de- 
pends. 

If any departure is to be made from the long- 
established policy of taxing all tangible property, by 
whomsoever held, and all intangible and _ credit 
property, however it may be invested, the classes 
who are creating the wealth of the city, and employ- 





Ss 


| 
- 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 29 


ing its people, should be the first to profit by the 
exemption. 

Following the rule that taxes all tangible property 
to the holder, notwithstanding it was purchased on 
credit, our business men are taxed on a full valua- 
tion of such property, without deduction for debts, 
although, the creditor being taxed for debts due him, 
double taxation im some cases necessarily follows. 
If all our copartnerships and business men were 
assessed only on the capital employed in their busi- 
ness, and were allowed whatever advantages followed 
their purchases upon credit, they would be relieved 
of a heavy burden, and their power to furnish indus- 
trial employment would be greatly increased. Such 
a course would not only be consistent with sound 
public policy, but with justice. For nearly twenty 


years the State, while it has taxed all other business 


interests upon the property purchased by the credit 


of its holders, has assessed business corporations 
upon the basis of their capital only. The effect of 
applying the same rule to private firms would un- 
doubtedly be beneficial to the interests of the city. 

I suggest the appointment of a special commission 
to consider this important subject, and report the 
result of their investigation, with their recommenda- 


tions thereon, to the City Council, that measures 


30 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


may be taken to present the subject to the 


Legislature. 


ALDERMANIC DISTRICTS. 


The subject of electing aldermen by districts, 
instead of on a general ticket, is deserving of 
your early consideration. J am in favor of the 
change, regarding it as the only practicable and 
satisfactory settlement of local claims to repre- 
sentation in that branch of the city government. 
When Boston was a compact city there may have 
been good reasons for electing aldermen on a 
general ticket, though even then the number of 
aldermen was made to correspond with the num- 
ber of wards, and local claims were so strong 
that, without any law requiring it, an alderman 
was almost invariably nominated and elected from 
each ward. Thus, when there were but eight 
wards, eight aldermen were chosen; later on, when 
there were twelve wards, the number of aldermen 
was correspondingly increased. When the num- 
ber of wards was again increased, by annexation, 
it was not deemed expedient to increase the 
number of the Board. ‘Then, instead of nomi- 
nating a resident of each ward, the practice of 
selecting a candidate from each section of the 


city was adopted, thus admitting the justice of 








MAYOR’S ADDRESS. Sul 


giving every locality its own representative. In 
this manner district representation virtually pre- 
vailed. 

I therefore do not regard the proposed change 
as a new and untried experiment, but as a pro- 
vision by law for the local representation which 
the people have always sought, and which has 
always been most. satisfactory when most com- 
pletely secured. The chances of election on a 
general ticket are, however, such that it not in- 
frequently happens that the citizens of an im- 
portant section of the city feel that they are 
left without representation in the Board; for, 
although theoretically an alderman represents the 
whole city, practically each alderman is regarded 
as specially representing the section in which he 
lives, and is expected by his neighbors to attend 
to the wants of that particular district in prefer- 
ence to those of other parts of the city. 

Under a district system a more direct respon- 
sibility, a more accurate representation of the 
will of the people, would be ensured, and, by 
bringing the issue nearer home, our citizens would 
be incited to increased interest in municipal 
affairs. | 

It is also probable that many persons whose 


services would be of great value to the public, 


OF MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


but who are unwilling to enter into a contest 
under the present system, might be induced to 
become candidates if their election depended only 
upon the suffrages of the citizens of their own 


section. 


PUBLIC WORKS. 


Having been a close observer of municipal 
affairs for many years I have viewed with satis- 
faction the gradual separation of the legislative 
and executive functions of the city government, 
and the transfer of the latter to Boards of Com- 
missioners. If I am not mistaken these changes 
have generally been followed by increased effi- 
ciency and greater economy. I believe that the 
interests of the city can be promoted by other 
changes in the same direction, and I invite your 


early attention to the expediency of reorganizing 


some of the related departments of the city, so 


as to place them under one management. I refer 
particularly to the departments having charge of 
matters connected with the public streets. The 
present system, by which each department carries 
on its operations without regard to any other, is 
not consistent with an economical and _ efficient 
management of the city’s business. 


All matters connected with laying-out and 








MAYOR’S ADDRESS. ao 


widening ~ streets, paving, bridges, sewers, and 
lamps, are so closely related that there can be 
no question that they could be more systematically 
managed by a Board of Public Works. 

The Legislature would undoubtedly grant a 
request for authority to create such a Board. 

But, if it should not be deemed advisable to 
create such a Board, I then recommend the 
adoption of such measures as will prevent any 
interference with the executive functions of heads 
of departments. 

The effect of such interference is perhaps 
more disastrous in the [ire and Police depart- 
ments, where the efficiency of the service depends 
upon the enforcement of discipline; but the evil 
is also felt in every department employing any 
considerable number of men. 

It has even extended so far as to affect the 
employment of laborers on the public works. 
It has been publicly charged that laborers who 
had rendered long and faithful service to the city 
have been made to feel that their chance to work 
for their daily bread depended upon the ticket 
given or sold to them by some politician, or upon 
the contribution of a day’s wages for political 


purposes. So long as such a condition of things 


34 MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 


is permitted to exist the interests of the city 
must suffer. 

I have no hesitation in saying that the system 
of employing workmen by distributing tickets 
among members of the various committees is a 
vicious one, both for the city and the laborer. 
The city owes it to its laboring men that, so long 
as they are faithful, and there is any work eto 
be done, their places shall be secure. An honest 


day’s work is all that should be required. 


With reference to heads of departments I sub-_ 


mit that men should be’ chosen with sole refer- 
ence to their training, .experience, and general 
fitness for the work required of them; that when 
so chosen they should be held to a strict ac- 
countability for the proper performance of that 
work, and to that end should be allowed to hire 
the necessary workmen, without dictation from 
any quarter. The loss to the city from the em- 
ployment of unskilled foremen and _ inefficient 
workmen, billeted upon the heads of departments, 


cannot be measured by the current expenses of 


a single year. 


Gentlemen of the City Council : — 
I have called your attention in a somewhat cursory 


manner, to some of the principal matters that will 





© 





MAYOR’S ADDRESS. 35 


come before you during the year. If the suggestions 
that I have made commend themselves to your judg- 
‘ment, I trust they will receive early attention. I hope 
the business of the year will be despatched with 
promptness as it presents itself, and that we shall not 
leave a legacy of unfinished business to our suc- 
cessors. 

And now, with the fixed purpose of advancing 
the interests of the city, let us address our- 


selves with energy to the duties before us. 





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